"All I can say is this is a dream come true, and everybody who's been there for me over the years, thank you! Wouldn't be here without an amazing family and circle of friends. Not to mention everybody in the Canadian motorcycle industry. I will do my best to do Canada proud this year :D" - Brett McCormick via Facebook

It's Official - "The Kid" Steps Up!

When you can't get Troy Bayliss, who's next in line? Brett McCormick, of course.

As we alluded to yesterday, the Effenbert Liberty Racing Team officially announced that the Saskatchewan native would become the fourth member of the Czech-based team to enter battle in the 2012 SBK World Championship. In what might be the shortest Superstock career ever, McCormick spent a weekend testing at Phillip Island in Australia last month, and didn't even get to his first official race before being promoted to the flagship Superbike squad.

“Effenbert Liberty Racing Team is giving me a great opportunity," said McCormick in the team press release. “My dream has always been to race in SBK and now that I have this opportunity, I will give it everything on the track."

Team sponsor Effenbert tried in vain to work out a deal to get Superbike legend Troy Bayliss to race in a handful of events on a Liberty bike; when those plans fell through, they chose to invest in adding McCormick to the Superbike stable.

"The incentive to promote McCormick in Superbike is consistent with our philosophy of helping to bring up young talents," explained team owner Mario Bertuccio. "We truly have the highest respect for the Canadian rider, and we trust him as we are certain that he can pay us back on the track. This is an important choice. There are only a few teams in SBK who have decided to increase the budget for the current season and our route makes us day after day even more proud and confident about the potential of the team."

While we're disappointed we won't see McCormick on the highly anticipated Ducati Panigale he was scheduled to ride in Superstock, everyone at Inside Motorcycles is excited for "The Kid" and looking forward to his debut at Imola on March 30.